The Soup Dragon's only commercially successful release, Lovegod was a definitive album of a short-lived but blissful movement in alternative dance that began in the late '80s and ended in the early '90s. Lead with fellow Scotsmen Primal Scream and other proto-trip-hop bands like the Happy Mondays, the Charlatans U.K., the Stone Roses, and the Farm, the scene revolved around community--masses joined in various forms of often chemically enhanced euphoric states, dancing till breakfast and beyond. Like Primal Scream's Screamadelica, this album follows a path clearly cut by the Rolling Stones. Their hazy, blues-on-Ecstasy psychedelic grooves fueled the club-going shoe gazers swaying in place for what could have been forever, while at the same time uplifted souls (and soles) with money-maker shakers like "Backwards Dog" and a cover of the Stones' "I'm Free." Because of its combination of timeless rock influences and its preturntablism dance sensibility, Lovegod has aged well, losing little of its capacity for elation. --Beth Massa |
